


Never After

by frozenCinders



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25621297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenCinders/pseuds/frozenCinders
Summary: Who would have thought that this was waiting for the Batter at the end of his mission? Absolutely fucking nothing, that is.
Relationships: The Batter & Zacharie
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Never After

Who would have thought that this was waiting for the Batter at the end of his mission? Absolutely fucking nothing, that is.

"Due to the way the game is programmed," Zacharie had so smugly explained to him after his first attempt to finish it, "it can't truly "end". There is no save opportunity after this one... so here you return."

And it was all for nothing. He doesn't know what the hell he expected, but he at least wanted an _end_ of some kind. Not an infinite loop, immediately abandoned by the Player, who had rightfully assumed the job was finished. Now he wishes they'd come back even though there is no more progress to make, just so he can have a little more company.

The Judge can't stay dead due to the save point being before their confrontation, but he hides from the Batter and doubtlessly hates him. There is a single remaining Elsen in the residential area of Bismark, uninterested in conversation. Everyone else is dead.

Everyone except for Zacharie. He is the only company the Batter really has, and the only thing keeping him sane as he futilely tries again and again to end his mission. Zacharie is torn between encouraging him and telling him he's acting out the definition of insanity. Sometimes he does both, sometimes neither.

From the second time on, the Judge seemed to sense something was amiss with the ending. With no Player to lecture and attempt to turn against the Batter, every time he reaches the Judge, he seems suspicious now. The Batter suspects he's on the verge of self-awareness, of remembering the resets like Zacharie and now the Batter. He should have been on the verge the entire time, really, so he'd be surprised if this wasn't the tipping point.

Perhaps it's because he's chosen to sit atop the roof in Zone 0 today that he thinks of the Judge. It's not the first time and he acknowledges with a frown that it won't be the last.

Zacharie never follows him up, just stays below with his merchant mask on. He shows up in the other one more often now, since the Batter has very little use of his services. When the Batter gets bored of the roof and starts the trek back to the save block, though, Zacharie is wearing the cat mask. He stops as soon as he steps inside, waiting for Zacharie to address him.

"Are we unhappy, friend?" he asks, though there's no seriousness to his voice.

"Great mood," the Batter responds, and he puts on a completely fake smile-- a baring of teeth that doesn't even try to look friendly. The rare instance of sarcasm from him makes Zacharie laugh.

"I thought I'd change things up a bit today. Accompany me to Zone 2?"

Don't have to tell him twice. The Batter will take absolutely anything that's different at this point. Zacharie somehow manages to get way ahead of him, of course, and the Batter takes his time reaching the save block. He takes a quick trip through the nothingness, and then the endless bright white of Zone 2 surrounds him.

Right past the save point is Zacharie, with his back turned to the Batter. He spins around on his heel, dramatically revealing his new mask: a colorless caricature of a stag.

"Merchant mask, judge mask, and," he points to his face with both hands, "battle mask! ... Forgive me if I adopt somewhat of a different tone. It happens."

The Batter thought he noticed Zacharie acting a little different depending on which mask he was wearing. Maybe they mask more than just his face (which Zacharie assured him once was "no more than painfully average, amigo.")

"Why a deer? If it's a battle mask."

"Hm?"

"It's a prey animal," he elaborates. "Why not a wolf or something?"

"..."

Zacharie slowly lowers his arms.

"You think it looks cool," the Batter ascertains.

"Yes, well, these secretaries aren't going to purify themselves, now, are they?" Zacharie pivots, probably a little embarrassed. The Batter feels a rare smile quirk his lips at the thought. Zacharie has already turned back around and can't comment on it.

The Batter expects to pull most if not all of the weight, but Zacharie is surprisingly capable in battle. He wields a sword that the Batter knows for a fact he's never seen on him before, and his competences are actually rather impressive. Whereas the Batter usually has trouble getting Alpha's status afflictions to take, Zacharie is quite good at inflicting them and deals a hell of a lot of damage while he's at it. He stacks as many statuses as the comparatively defenseless secretaries can handle before falling, either busted and dented or scraped and shattered-- sometimes a heaping helping of both.

Seeing Zacharie in action makes the Batter grateful that he never decided to raise his sword against the Batter himself. Watching him successfully mute three secretaries in one hit frankly terrifies him, and his next step is usually poison. The Batter would have his hands completely full just trying to keep himself and his add-ons alive, and then he'd have to somehow figure out how to land more than one or two hits on him.

"I didn't expect you to be competent," the Batter says after a long while of organizing his thoughts. It still comes out rude, after all that contemplating. Zacharie laughs it off.

"You couldn't have known what to expect. Certainly, I must be much stronger and more impressive than you could have ever dreamed!"

"Well, yeah," he admits. Zacharie seems to take great satisfaction from that, even though he was just stating the obvious. His ego would probably run wild if he found out the Batter is now a little afraid of him.

Or rather...

He's been actively trying to stop himself from thinking about it, but the Batter often wonders what it would take to end the game. At the very least, if he died, maybe he could stay dead without a Player to reload for him. Some days-- _most_ days-- non-existence sounds better than whatever excuse for life he's been left with.

But everything happens for a reason, therefore everything must exist for a reason. The Batter will continue living until a greater force comes to stop him, and only as his final thought would he concede that he was lesser than it. If Zacharie ends up being that force, then that would be equal parts convenient and, by some standards, perhaps tragic. Either way, he would certainly be more than qualified.

It makes the Batter wonder if this outing is a warning, or even a buildup to a confrontation. But Zacharie, like the Batter, is painfully alone in this world, and would surely lose his mind without the Batter's company. Would he not?

"Zacharie," the Batter addresses, very much out of the blue.

"Yes, kaverie?"

His train of thought silently slams to a halt as he tries to figure out what the hell Zacharie just said to him.

"I decided the stag is Finnish," he helpfully elaborates. The Batter shakes his head.

"Is there anything you're hiding from me?" he asks.

"Anything else, you mean?" Zacharie is quick to correct. "I believe this was my last surprise for you... I'll let you know if I come up with anything else."

"No, I mean... Is there anyone else left? Anyone you talk to?"

Zacharie pauses for a moment.

"Who could I possibly talk to but you?" He sounds a bit serious, but then he chuckles. "Getting bored of me already? And after I just showed you something new!"

"Just wondering."

"Yes, I'm sure... You've wounded me, Batter, truly..."

His tone of voice says otherwise. The Batter can't bring himself to mind, even if he normally prefers straight talk.

Either way, it seems that the Batter is Zacharie's only company as well. It's probably worse that it goes both ways. Zacharie seemed to know everyone, everywhere, back when there was anyone to know. His purpose in life has been plucked away from him piece by piece by the Batter, and he just stood there and let it happen. Even after purifying what appeared to be a friend to Zacharie, he never so much as said an antagonistic word to the Batter.

Maybe it's not he who fears Zacharie, so much as the other way around. The Batter has observed no add-ons, and so Zacharie would only have one chance at him were they to fight. That risk could be the only thing stopping him from ending the Batter.

"Don't be overthinking, kaverie. I hear you over there," Zacharie says, though he indicates in no way that he knows _what_ the Batter is overthinking. Knowing him, he actually might and is simply pretending he doesn't.

"I guess I should show you something new next time too," he says rather than voice any of his thoughts. "So we don't get bored of each other."

"I'd like that very much, but please be aware that I am quite competitive."

A soft, subtle little smile finds its way onto the Batter's face. As long as they have each other, he guesses it isn't all that bad.


End file.
